Thursday, December 30, 2010

The thermometer on our deck crawled all the way up to 72 degrees today, so I took advantage of the spring-like weather and spent most of the day catching up on outdoors chores.

I took down the Christmas lights, drastically pruned the weeping cherry, picked up trash and fallen branches from our last windstorm, cleaned gutters, removed and stored tomato supports and cleaned the garden, dug compost into the garden, filled the bird feeders, watered hanging plants, picked up two weeks worth of dog poop from the back yard, cleaned leaves and trash out of the septic tank pump housing, filled the treatment tank dispenser with chlorine cakes, and finished off the day by poisoning several fire ant hills. Now, the yard should be in good shape until the next warm day arrives.

I imagine I'll vividly recall all that exercise when I try to get out of bed tomorrow, but with a cold front moving in, I'll have some time to recover in front of the computer. With tax time just around the corner, I have to get all the financial records updated and ready to go.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

I'm gradually getting over my annual bout with the common cold, but the weather today sure made it easier to live with. I spent about three hours reading a book and drinking coffee on the patio. Not the usual activity for the winter solstice, even in the sunny south, but who am I to argue with 81F. It will be cooling off about 15 degrees tomorrow, but even that is fine with me for the week before Christmas.

Even the birds are confused about the date. I finally got around to setting up the feeders and have seen very few customers. One nuthatch visited several times today, and gave me a scolding each time he arrived. I guess he doesn't know who paid for his lunch.

Speaking of birds...the baby whooping cranes made it to Florida well ahead of their normal arrival. Usually, the migration team has to take a holiday break and finish after the first of the year, but this time the weather was more cooperative and they arrived about a week ago.

The house is sure empty without Belle. The big, lumbering oaf was such a wonderful dog...funny, well mannered, gentle, loving, loveable, playful. There just aren't enough complimentary adjectives to describe her. She had a puppy mind encumbered by a body that was too old, too broken and too tired to keep up with her happy spirit. I'm just glad that we were the ones blessed to share her all-too-short life.